My husband, 14 yr old son and myself decided to get a ‘last minute’ break for 1 week - to get away from the lovely British weather! After reading 100s of reviews on Tripadvisor, we decided that the Iberostar Kos Bay sounded the best for us. Even though it was a nice hotel, we won’t be rushing back there. We have stayed in many hotels around the world and been on many cruises, so compare our findings to these. I have an information sheet I made up before our trip on KOS if you would like me to email it to you (my email: traceyhurst8@hotmail.com) - Also agree with review from MANINBLACK112

General

We would definitely go back to KOS as we all thought it was a fantastic island. We found the locals to be very friendly and helpful and felt very safe wherever we went. Kos Town was lovely with many tavernas, shops and boat trips, etc. We hired a car and went to Paradise Beach for the day (sandy) - shallow waters for a long way out - lovely. My son & husband had a couple of dives with Kos Divers - lovely clear water. Obviously not as much to see as in the Caribbean!

Good things about Hotel

•The studio room sizes were great - especially with a teenager (14) in tow! He had a big room to himself - this room also included a small table & chairs & kitchenette area (never used as AI). The main bedroom was also a good size with a queensize bed too.

•Water was regularly restocked (FOC on AI) - got more if we left a tip !!!

•The views from our balcony were spectacular - view of Kos Town and of Turkey. Sunsets and Sunrises wonderful. All rooms have a sea view.

•The mini bus supplied by hotel very good as it runs down to the main road where you can go opposite to beach (stony - but very clear beautiful blue sea). There is also a toilet facility here - have to hire parasol & sunbeds (6 euros). You can also pick up the local buses here, hire bikes, cars, quad bikes etc.

•AI Drinks were fine - local booze used, but OK - very strong too!

•The hotel was always spotlessly clean

•If you choose AI and want to go out for the day, as long as you advise reception before 8pm the previous night, they will provide you with a packed lunch (juice, roll, fruit, cake, boiled egg).

•Food was OK - varied selection

Bad things about Hotel

•The beds were SO HARD. I do suffer from back problems and found the beds the hardest I have ever slept on. Did give me backaches.

•The shower was just an attachment over the bath (okish)

•Sun-bed nabbing was UNBELIEVABLE. (even though there is a note in our rooms advising of NO RESERVING). We arrived @ hotel 5am and decided to stay up to watch the sunrise (wonderful). As soon as daylight broke, people were coming out of their apartments to reserve ‘their spot’ around the pool! If you didn’t get there by 7.30 - latest - you would be hard pushed to get a bed! The worst case was the night before we were due to leave, the hotel couldn’t accommodate us so we had to sleep in Foyer or round pool!! NOT IMPRESSED>> and a couple of people came out of their rooms at 2AM to put towels on the sunbeds…..

•After our first day, we stayed clear of the pool as extremely busy, mostly with younger children.

•The tiles around the pool were extremely slippery

•When we opened our room after being out all day, there was sewage smell coming from our bathroom - once we opened the door and patio doors to balcony, it soon disappeared.

•There was always an extremely strong sewage smell as we went down to the table tennis / kids club area as the toilets were at the bottom of the steps (& neither male or female had main doors on them! So you could see all that was going on!!!) Even the barman said the smell was always there.

•There were hardly any English families there when we arrived so our son didn’t go to any of the club activities.

•The animation team were very amateurish - ok for the young ones!! They did get other acts in for one night.

•Quite steep getting to some of the apartments - this didn’t bother us as it was our ‘exercise for the day’!! but could see it being a problem for people with buggies and tired children at the end of the day.

•AI afternoon teas was like feeding time at the zoo!! A small selection of cakes were put out and within 5-10 minutes, all the kids had piled them onto plates - and none left for anyone else!

•On the beach, where we were dropped off, refreshments were offered to the other Iberostar hotel guests - but KOS BAY guests couldn’t even buy them!!

•THE WORST OF ALL WAS THAT BEFORE WE EVEN WENT OUT TO KOS, WE EMAILED THE HOTEL AND ASKED FOR EXTRA NIGHT AS OUR FLIGHT HOME WAS SUNDAY 5.35AM AND HAD TO VACATE ROOM BY SATURDAY LUNCHTIME! THEY SAID TO ASK WHEN WE GOT TO HOTEL. WE ASKED EVERY DAY - THEY SAID “COME BACK TOMORROW” - WE DIDN’T GET OUR ROOM FOR THAT EXTRA NIGHT AND HAD TO SLEEP IN FOYER (TOO HOT & NOISY) SO WENT AROUND THE POOL ON SUNBEDS - ONLY TIME WE MANAGED TO GET ONE.

I totaly agree with "Manninblack112" i can only add a couple of things to his review, If you want a sunbed at the lower pool you will have to be up early, any later than 8am & you have no chance of getting a bed. The entertainment team tried but were very cheesey, ok for the kids. If your offered room 1208 refuse straight away, it's lower ground floor & if your sitting down you have no chance of seeing the sea. When we arrived the hotel was over booked so we could'nt change rooms, they were having to move people to other hotels. Also if you want a car DONT book in England, what a rip off, the same car is half price in kos. Happy holidays, we wont be going to kbv again.

We arrived at Kos bay view on 1/8/07 at 6am in the morning. We were welcomed by the Aussie night receptionist who arranged an early cooked breakfast and was very helpful.
The rooms were a great size with good balconys, all with sea view and very clean.
Food was good and plenty of choice, although some things were repetitive there was a lot of variety and we never found a problem finding lots of things we wanted to eat.
I found the entertainment a little boing some evenings but the kids loved it.
The one thing i missed was not being right on the beach. The mini bus was great and took you down to thebeach but felt it would have been nice if there were free sunbeds & bar on the beach for Iberostar guests as there was for the Mitsis Ramira. However saying that the children never wanted to leave the pool anyhow. The slide was great fun. I loved it. The place was full of children and therefore great for families. The children made friends straight away. Not so good for couples.
The bus fare to Kos town was only 1 euro and were every 15 minutes during the day. We took the day trip to Bodrum for 18 euros each and our daughter went for free. We booked it from the harbour in Kos town.It was worth the trip we had a good day and we got lots at the market although yu have to do a lot of haggling. Always have a price in mind
Overall there is othing bad I could say about the hotel but there was not enough for me in the evenings and i missed the beach so I wouldn't go back again, but that is personal choice. the girls would go back tomorrow!

just returned from kbv ...not impressed should never be a 5 star .
Lobby bar not opened as advertised in brochures, hill not a problem as the bus is allways on hand. Dress code in dining rooms say men must wear long trousers, not true you can wear shorts{dress brmudas etc.). Food edible - just - and not a great choice. Only 1 self service beer tap, Snacks are a joke ie ice cream and cakes. KBV guests are treated like 3star, cant use sunbeds on beach, cant get drinks at the other iberostar hotels on the same complex but ok for the other hotels to use kbv...caravan bar on beach only for use by panorama and maris hotels.which are also 5 star....no atmosphere in bar area at night with kids all sitting around with nothing to do..music bar with no music...plenty space for the likes of pool tables....only 1 table tennis table..........all in all staff very pleasant and helpful...apart from your front of house receptionist and manageress who both have total attitude problems and are a disgrace to the greek culture....on the good points rooms spacious and clean ..hotel areas well kept, bus drivers very nice, pools clean.